Botox Cosmetic is a prescription medicine that is injected into muscles and used to temporarily improve the look of moderate to severe forehead lines, crow’s feet lines, and frown lines between the eyebrows in adults. Botulinum toxin injections (Botox) work by causing a disruption between the nerve and the muscle, thereby weakening the muscle into which it is injected.
Botox is also injected into the skin to treat the symptoms of severe underarm sweating (severe primary axillary hyperhidrosis) when medicines used on the skin (topical) do not work well enough in people 18 years and older.
Depending on the muscle injected, EMG guidance may be used during Botox injection to verify muscle activity and ensure the most active part of the muscle is being injected.
The number of units and injections varies depending on the procedure. The entire procedure takes about 20-30 minutes in the clinic. Botox takes about 3-7 days after injection to show activity, and the duration of effect lasts about 10-14 weeks. Most patients return every 12 weeks for repeat injection. Side effects of facial injections include eyelid droop, weakness of eyelid closure, eyebrow droop, dry eye, double vision, and facial droop. Side effects typically occur due to spread of the toxin to other muscles, and may include neck weakness, trouble holding the head up, neck pain, swallowing difficulty, and rarely slurred speech. All side effects resolve after several weeks.
In some patients, botulinum toxin injections are not sufficient to control the symptoms, and oral medications may be useful as additional treatment. These include benzodiazepines such as clonazepam, anticholinergics such as trihexiphenidyl, and muscle relaxants such as baclofen. All of these medications can be associated with muscle weakness, somnolence (sleepiness), dizziness, imbalance, and fogginess. In addition, trihexiphenidyl can cause dry mouth, nausea, constipation, urinary retention (inability to urinate) and confusion. Therefore, these oral medications are not considered first line over botulinum toxin injection.
Cosmetic Procedures and Exercise
Cosmetic procedures can give you a new appearance that you hope to achieve. It can be exciting to see the changes in your body, but you’ll have to bear with some significant downtimes for a while. Physical exertion and strenuous exercise are out of the question for the moment as you wait for the surgically altered parts of your body to fully heal. However, this doesn’t mean you’ll have to completely leave out exercise while recovering. Mild exercise can also be beneficial for the healing of your body after surgery.
Can I Go For A Walk After Botox?
According to Cosmetic Skin Clinic, Botox is a quick and safe procedure which has very little impact on usual activity on the day of injection. Tiny injections are delivered to relax the action of the muscles that create excessive movement and leave wrinkles on the skin. Normal daily activity can be resumed immediately following treatment. Light exercise can be performed after 4 hours but it is recommended that strenuous activities are avoided for 24 hours. After 4 hours you may perform light exercise such as: Walking. SEE: How Long Can Botox Be Left Unrefrigerated
